Finer Things Club

Thanks to two of my new friends, Melissa and Jurga, I am on my way to becoming World's Classiest Broad. I told them one evening when we were hanging out that, while I love going out to a good party every once in a while, I felt like last semester I didn't get to experience the vast spectrum of cultural life that Gothenburg has to offer. Going to the same student bars and clubs can get tiresome week after week, no matter how much fun they are, and I was ready to try new things. They felt the exact same way, and since then, we've been making an effort to switch up our activities as much as possible. Last week, we went to Nefertiti, Gothenburg's famous jazz club; it was a nice change of pace, and the venue was amazing. Tuesday night is "free play" night so to speak, so it was a collective of about seven people just jamming together. I'm usually pretty neutral-to-ehhhh on jazz, but I loved watching how these musicians could play together on the spot, almost like they were having a conversation with their instruments. Also, Swedes always seemed so stoic, so it was great to see them so passionate and expressive, especially about something so moving and rhythmic as jazz. We kind of felt like wine, and upon the encouragement of Jurga and Melissa, we ordered a semi-nice, semi-priced bottle to share. I thought I liked wine before, but turns out what I thought I liked is actually just grape juice with a kick because this wine was GOOD. Totally understand now how people can taste wine without just being like "this tastes fine? it's grapey? i like it" which is kind of my general reaction.

 I definitely felt like I had moved up a few notches up on the Swank Scale by the end of the night.  

Yesterday, Yuri, Melissa, and I went to the Världskulturmuseet; it was pretty small, only one exhibit, but still worth a visit. The current exhibit, Destination X, focused on traveling, both in regards to tourists and immigrants. One of the highlights was a wheel of fortune, if you will, with different travel opportunities; whatever you land on should be your next destination.

That sounds fun! Maybe Anthony, Zoe, and I can reunite our band from freshman year. Glockenspiel? Also, we could totally team up with Belle & Sebastian which would be way too cool.

The exhibit was also covered with pop-art quotes about traveling. Some hit home, some were eye-opening, and others were just well-said and interesting. Stand-outs to follow:

"There are no bad journeys, except for those that lead to the gallows."

"Why would you travel, travel so far away- wherever you travel you are always by yourself?"

I've met many people in hostels who had been traveling for as long as six months by themselves. Sounds miserable. I love having a friend next to me at all times, just to have someone with whom to share the experience. Good company is essential to good traveling.

Privilege

This guy wrote our Global Studies textbook!

This one struck me in particular. It's something I've been grappling with here, how much my traveling, my personal search leisure, company, and adventure, has affected the environment. Except for winter break, I've mostly been flying from country to country (train rides could take days), and I feel guilty every time I book a flight. I'm going to repress that guilt until next August, when I start taking environmental studies courses again. Excited for inevitable period of manic attempts to atone for my ecological sins.

Anyways, the Världskulturmuseet was great, and I can't wait to try to play Pokemon with the musuems in Gothenburg. You know, gotta catch 'em all. Continuing our efforts to explore the city we call home for the next four months, we're going SALSA DANCING tomorrow night. Excited! Pictures of me looking awkward to follow, I'm sure.